Warm air heating system



Jan. 17, 1939. w STEELE 2,144,129

WARM AIR HEATING'SYSTEM v Filed June 22, 1957 I (I 3 3/0 I M I 5: X

. wn-nmfiusie e (Ittomeg Patented Jan. 17, 1939 PATENT OFFICE WARM sin.HEATING SYSTEM William L. Steele, near Seattle, Wash. Application June22, 1937, Serial No. 149,742

2 Claims. (01.126-116) My invention relates to furnaces, and moreparticularly to an arrangement of the parts thereof, as thecombustionmeans, in combination with'a hot air circulating system.

One of the primary objects of this invention is to lessen the number ofparts in such a system, by adapting one part to perform the tune, tionsheretofore performed by parts now omitted,- thus lessening the cost ofthe system, rendering it more compact, and simplifying its maintenance,all with no lessening of its eficiency,

but rather with an increase in efficiency. In

part these results are accomplished. by omitting any separate blower forthe supply of air for combustion, and by supplying such air by tappingthe air circulating system, thereby obtaining air under-pressure,removing from 'the circulating system a certain amount of air andforcing its replacement with fresh air, and effecting circulation ofairthrough the circulation system immediately upon starting the burner orother combustion means.

With these and other objectsin mind, as will appear hereafter, myinvention comprises'the novel parts and the novel combination andrelative arrangement thereof, as shown in the accompanying drawing andas will be more particularly described herein and defined by the claimswhich terminate this specification.-

In the accompanying drawing I have shown my invention embodied in. an.illustrative form, as now preferred by me, it being understood thatvarious changes may be made in the form of the parts, and to some extentin their relative arrangement, without departing'irom' the spirit of myinvention.

Figure l is a general horizontal sectional view through the he'atingandair circulating plant,

and Figure 2 is a general vertical section through the same,substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig- The furnace as shown hereinconsistsof a fur nace body I supported upon the floor or upon a base it,having within it an upright combustion chamber it open at its top andlined with fire brick or similar refractory material. A combustionmeans, such as the oil burner tip 2, en-

ters the combustion chamber lLthrough an inlet such as the' sleeve ii,the burner tip being suitably supported in this sleeve. The products ofcombustion, emanating from the combustion chamber it, pass into theupper part of the furvnace body l and then pass downwardly and outwardlythrough a flue connection l3., Between the upper part of the furnacebody I and the flue connection I 3 I prefer to arrange baffling means,such as the ring I4, supported upon the combustion chamber II and spacedslightly at its periphery from the inner wall of. the furnace body i,the-purpose of this being to cons duct the hot gases into intimatecontact with the furnace body to heat the latter, and to abstract allpossible heat from the hot products of com bustion. The form of thisfurnace may be other than that described, and its particular formis notit considered a part of the present invention.

Surrounding the furnace l is a casing 3 of appropriate shape, preferablyrectangular in plan, and partitioned, as indicated at it, to provide aspace it wherein the air is heated by conit; tact with the furnace i,from which leads the hot air conduit it, and a chamber or extension 32,all within the casing 3, to which. chamber 32 the cold'air return pipeit is connected.

Between the chamber 32 and the chamber it, so and preferably within thechamber 312, is disposed a blower ii, arranged to receive air fromwithin the chamber 32 and to discharge it at it through the partition 3%and into the hot air chamber 3i, preferably at the bottomof the lat- 25ter chamber. This blower, while in operation, efiects positivecirculation of the air throughout the system. 7

Usually the oil burner, coal stoker, or other combustion means is aunit, including an oil 30 pump, a blower, and regulating means, and whenr it is connected to a furnace it extends outwardly notwithstanding theomission of the usual blower of such a burner.

The oil pump it is preferably located within the extension it of thecasing, where it is with in the general plan of the furnace casing. Fromit extends the pressure pipe ii to the tip 2, and

to it are connected. the supply pipe S and the re turnpipe R, connectingthe pump with the storage tank (not shown); The oil supply line 2| mayextend between the burner tip 2 and the pump 20 externally of the casing3, or it may lie within the casing. Preferably it is outside, in w part,at least, for it occupies no appreciable space, and is more accessiblewhen the tip must be cleaned, and there is provided a cut-off orregulating valve 22 adjacent the burner tip. The

sleeve l2 admitting to the burner tip is closed by a removable door l5through which the oil supply line 2| passes.

Also within the extension 32 is a motor M connected to drive the blowerl and the oil pump 20. Such a connection is indicated by the belt B. Abox T may also be supported within this chamber '32 for housing atransformer, electrical controls, and connections for ignition points Pterminating adjacent the burner tip 2. A filter F may be interposedbetween the cold air return conduit 33 and the inlet to the blower 4,likewise in the extension 32, and as is usually the case, such filtersare arranged for inspectionand replacement. Other devices sometimesemployed in such systems, as a humidifier, may be incorporated, but arenot shown, as they form no part of the invention.

Air must be supplied to the interior of the furnace, adjacent the burnertip 2, in order to support combustion. Usually this must be suppliedunder pressure. and the outer end of the sleeve [2 is closed by the doorIS, the sole supply of air to the burner is by means of a combustion airsupply conduit 5 which taps the pressure side of the air circulatingsystem to receive air from the latter, its end 50 being disposed at thedischarge outlet 40 of the blower 4, and this conduit 5 leads thence toa connection to the sleeve l2, whence it issues surrounding the burnertip into the combustion chamber ll. Barring minor leakage, this conduit5 constitutes the sole air supply for combustion, and this air issupplied under pressure from the air circulating system, but by so doingit eliminates the necessity of a separate blower for the burner:Similarly the employment of a single motor and the location of the oilpump adjacent the blower eliminates a separate motor for the drive ofblower and oil pump, and further simplifiesthe system, and enables allparts to be compactly arranged so as to occupy a minimum of floor space.

Objections to the system described have been raised on the ground thatit is not desirable to deliver air for combustion from that blower which.efl'ects circulation of air through the circulation system, for thereason that when the furnace is cold operation of the blower willcirculate cold air through the house, yet the blower must operate tosupply air for combustion. The burner, hence a blower so connected, mustoperate for some period of time before the furnace becomes heatedsufllciently to aifect or'materially raise the temperature of the air inthe house, and it has been consideredundesirable to circulate the airbefore its temperature has been raised somewhat. It hasbeen felt thatthis would have a tendency to cool the air within the house. For thisreason, among others, burners have been supplied with a blower separatefrom the circulating blower,

Since the furnace is closed and while the, urner blower startsimmediately the burner starts, the controls have been arranged to startthe circulating blower only after thefurnace has been heated to anappreciable temperature. This reasoning, however, is fallacious, for theair in the house is at a given temperature, and the furnace body is atsubstantially the same temperature, hence circulation of this airthrough the house does not cool the house, nor, or .course, does it warmthe house, but it does no harm and it brings the circulating air intocontact with the furnace body so that the air is warmed as soon as thefurnace body becomes heated to any degree, and thus gradually warms thehouse. Because the temperature of the house closely corresponds to thetemperatures of the furnace, overrunning of the burner is less likely,and economy in the use of fuel and more even temperature results. Thustapping the circulating air for the supply of air for combustion does noharm, and this arrangement effects a considerable economy of parts,economy of operation, lessens the difliculties of maintenance, and cutsdown on the floor space of the installation as a whole.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A hot air heating and circulating system inluding a furnace bodyhaving an opening in a side, a casing surrounding the same, andpartitioned to define a hot air chamber immediately about the furnacebody and a cold air chamber at one side of the hot air chamber, thecasing having an opening through a side and registering with the openingin the furnace body, a sleeve joining said two openings, a burner tipreceived in said sleeve to discharge within the furnace, and accessiblefor removal or adjustment from without the casing, means within'the coldair chamber to effect air circulation from the cold air chamber to thehot air-chamber, a conduit tapping said air circulating means to conducta portion of the air to the sleeve, a fuel pump within the cold airchamber, and a conduit connecting at one side of the hot air chamber,the casing r having an opening through its side registering with theopening in the furnace body, a sleeve joining said registering openings,a burner tip received in said sleeve to discharge within the furnacebody, and accessible for removal or adjustment from without the casing,a conduit for conducting combustion air to the sleeve, and

' means within the cold air chamber to effect a circulation of air fromthe cold air chamber to the hot air chamber and a supply of air to theconduit, a fuel pump within the casing, distant from the burner tip, anda conduit connecting the fuel pump to the burner tip.

'WIILIAM L. STEELE.

